« From Allofmp3 to NoneofMP3 | Main | Windows Live Writer beta 2 »
July 05, 2007
Linux ... a genuine advantage?
Hardly a week passes in the Bleeding Edge cave without us marveling at the runaway success of Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage and Office Genuine Advantage authentication processes in achieving the company’s apparent goal of alienating its users.
Last week, for instance, we were forced on at least three occasions to allow Microsoft to rummage through our files and establish yet again – haven’t we proved this already? - that we are not criminal masterminds, intent on robbing Bill Gates of his licence fees.
Both these “Genuine Advantage” programs offend us, on several grounds. It isn’t just that they waste our time and bandwidth – so often the initial attempt to validate via an ActiveX control failed, and we are forced to download yet another program to frisk us – and threaten us with a significant risk of inconvenience through a false positive.
It isn’t just because, in Microsoft’s eyes, we’re never really clean. The fact that the software checks in with head office every two weeks to report on our activities means that instead we’re on some form of long-term parole.
Nor is it just the fact that Microsoft treats us like mugs. Nobody surely, believes that this program is tailored to the user’s genuine advantage. Microsoft’s claims that it is protecting users from malicious software sometimes associated with pirate software downloads are completely transparent. Can anyone doubt that its real motivation is its own enrichment?
Nor is it the sheer over-kill. We doubt that the extent of piracy in Australia is any more than a fraction of 1 per cent, and these measures are unlikely to stop determined law-breakers.
What offends us mostly is the fact that Microsoft is already making far too much money out of its software, and because it wants still more, is prepared to appoint itself as Big Brother to its customers. As we’ve said before, the prices it is charging Australians for Windows Vista are ludicrously high, and we are reminded of that every time its software cops pull us over for a random test.
We couldn’t help but wonder to what extent that simmering resentment influenced our decision, which we foreshadowed last week, to buy a Linux-based media centre – the Australian Dragon assembled and supported at better-access.com, rather than any Microsoft alternative.
We’d have had to pay a premium of at least $170 or so on our hardware investment if we’d chosen to buy Windows Vista Home Premium. And we’d have been giving Microsoft permission not just to keep track of its own software, but also to oversee the digital rights to whatever content we acquired.
A report by New Zealand academic Peter Gutman on Vista’s content protection mechanism (tinyurl.com/3mftby) suggests that Vista could seriously limit our future enjoyment of “premium content” like High Definition video and digital audio.
That prospect not only pushed us down the Linux path, it also re-kindled our interest in Linux as a desktop operating system.
It’s been more than a year since we wrote about the open source world, and in the interim we’d somewhat despairingly relegated it to also-ran status: the preserve of knowledgeable enthusiasts.
Over the past couple of weeks, as we’ve been playing not only with KnoppMyth, which is the Linux distribution tailored for media centres, but also with the latest distribution of Ubuntu, we’ve begun to revise our opinion.
Linux has become far more approachable to the average user, and may now represent a cheap and viable alternative to Windows, Microsoft Office, and many of the popular commercial offerings.
We suspect that it would save our schools millions of dollars in Microsoft licence fees, and could also cut the costs of many small to medium businesses.
The most compelling evidence for this is the fact that you can now buy a good office PC for around $550, if not less. Equipping it with a Microsoft operating system and software, however, will cost double, if not triple that amount. Linux could deliver the same functionality, free.
The irony is that Linux has actually become more attractive with the release of Windows Vista, and the eventual retirement of Windows XP. We’ve found Microsoft’s latest operating system requires a significant additional financial cost and some re-learning, but is less stable, and lacks many of the refinements of the most recent Linux distributions.
Our mission, over the next few weeks, will be to explore just how viable the open source alternative has become. We suspect that it could deliver a genuine advantage over Microsoft.
Posted by cw at July 5, 2007 03:15 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://bleedingedge.com.au/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1330
Comments
I also have wasted time withe the WGA crap. I spent 45 mins on the phone to MS support trying to find out why I couldn't use windows update. They were quite satisfied I had a valid license - but they couldn't help me.
I have purchased MS software since win 95, but no more. I will not buy Vista and its various deliberate infections.
I have installed Ubuntu on a dual boot xp machine. As soon as I am comfy with it - and any necessary xp apps using crossover - I will migrate.
Ubuntu and Open Office have another huge advantage over Windows: www.portableapps.com - your data and apps work off a usb stick. Beats the airport (unpaid) laptop dance.
Posted by: Ozviewer at July 5, 2007 10:05 PM
Actually, Microsoft is very crafty. Schools, Unis and TAFE's qualify for education discounts on Office and Windows. Major discounts. The teaching machines probably pay less than AUD 100 per machine. A recent Uni student personal offer for Office 2007 Ultimate was AUD 85? to each student, take home.
Volume Licence Keys (machines in labs and staff machines) issued for Windows XP and Office 2003 required one time keying in of the golden handshake and no further activation. The corporates, Govt bodies and the big end of town also have Volume Licence Keys.
The ones who are hit hardest are the non Academic Home User, Small Business User - software for these targets need a CD Key, then Activation, then hardware must not change drastically otherwise you have to activate again.
There have been many conjectures as to why Linux and Open Office have not made bigger inroads.
One angle is that although the ODF think they have established an international, worldwide standard for Office documents, in actual fact, the defacto standard is Microsoft proprietary document formats - by virtue of the heaps of electronic documents that have been generated since 1990.
Another angle is that although Windows has clay feet, lots of people know enough to get the guy next door to get them going again. Whilst Linux health is still in the hands of the hobbyist.
Another angle is that you can go to Officeworks and buy Office or Windows in a take home pack whilst Linux comes in eyesores (or was that ISOs?)
Posted by: Ananda Sim at July 5, 2007 11:48 PM
Be sure to check out the just-released Slackware v.12 as you take a look at how good desktop Linux has become.
Posted by: Ron at July 6, 2007 08:52 AM
I echo what you say Charles. I started dabbling with Linux a couple of years ago when, at a conference on the other side of the world, my Windows XP got so corrupted that I could no longer boot into XP. A kindly soul put Linux on my laptop and hey presto I was able to access my data again. Since then I have been dual booting Windows and various types of Linux and have seen it improve dramatically.
One thing which has always been a problem is hardware support. Whilst the vast majority of hardware is supported there have been issues with some printers and wireless network drivers. However, with Dell now offering Linux machines in the USA I think we have reached a critical mass of Linux users where hardware manufacturers can no longer afford to ignore us. So things can only get better.
Posted by: Mike Lowe at July 6, 2007 11:28 AM
I am in the process of moving my school over to Open Source Software, but also have to accept that there are required software packages that need Windows.
My focus at the moment is primarily Open Office for two reasons.
1) We can expect students to have it at home since it is no cost to them. (We will supply it on CD's)
2) The long term readability of files.
If we have students producing digital work in Year 7, there is a chance that they will not be able to read it by the time they are in Year 12. Open Office's open file formats guarantee readability and our archives are valid for years to come.
The real attraction of Open Source is that kids can install it at home and can explore the task they have been set without the need to buy the software. This is a significant issue for many parents.
I dual boot my all my machines with Win XP and Ubuntu, but spend 95% of my time on the Linux side.
Posted by: Cameron Bell at July 6, 2007 06:12 PM
Here I am staring at the bleeding edge forum with my 22" LCD in full widescreen, I've just skyped a mate, watched a BBC video and read the age and Guardian newspapers. All using a discarded AMD machine running Ubuntu 7.04. I've got full office functionality (open office) and all the video and sound players I need (Mplayer and VLC)
But I've had to delve into a terminal screen and play with 'sudo' more than once and I'm on nodding terms with xorg.conf - scary places for a novice.
Haven't enjoyed playing with a PC as much since the DOS days...
Posted by: Alan Lazarus at July 6, 2007 11:55 PM
Couldn't agree more with the article by Charles. Microsoft's avarice appears to have no bounds. He is also right in suggesting we are being taken for a ride with the cost of Vista. When you factor in the cost of upgrading an aging PC so you get the best result from Vista it can be prohibitive for lots of people. I commented along similar lines in the Forum recently.
I can't wait to read Charles' expert take on the open source choices.
Posted by: Rhonda at July 7, 2007 04:01 PM
An interesting and relevant blog post
Posted by: Ananda Sim at July 10, 2007 12:02 AM
I've been using Open Office quite a bit over the the past 9 months. I installed it on my old ME Optima to produce our local Lions Club newsletter - I had been using MS Publisher 2000, however as I intended purchasing a new dual core computer with XP and had 'lost' the installation disk, I decided to start using Open Office Writer to publish it, rather than fork out for the MS product.
It does quite a good job. My only gripe is that when expanding or shrinking photos they do not hold their proportions, and text frames can drift a bit – no big deal, given the fact that its free. Its easy enough to correct the proportions. It is not as convenient as MS publisher, but it does the job.
Posted by: Mitch at July 14, 2007 05:30 PM